Window-screen



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W. H. FELTHOUSBN. WINDOW SCREEN.

No. 510,336. Patnted Deo. 5, 1893-.

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l WINDOW SCREEN. No. 510,336.

Patented Dec. 5, l1893.

UNITED STATES .PATENT EFICE.

WILLIAM II. FEL'rHoUsEN, oE BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

WINDOW-SCREEN.

SPECIFICATION forming Apart of Letters Patent No. 510,336, dated December 5, 1893.

Application liled April 8, 1893. Serial No. 469,584. (No model.)

To LZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. FEL'IHoU- SEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Window-Screens, of which the following= is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved automatically rolling window screen of that class which is constructed in the form of a wire cloth curtain designed to closely cover the whole ofthe window space, or opening.

The objects of my invention are to provide simple and inexpensive fastenings for the lowerend of the curtain or screenwhen drawn down to the window sill; to provide effective tension bearings for the spring roller to which the curtain or screenis attached whereby the curtain, when drawn down and secured to its lower edge, will be held taut across the window opening orpspace; to provide automatic.

clamping guide strips or sticks for securing the side edges of the unrolled or extended screen, thereby preventing it from wrinkling or sagging and from being blown inward when the windew sash is raised oropened; to provide aself-adjusting top rail for automatically closing or controlling the space aboveI lthe spring roller as the screen is rolled onto or unrolled therefrom; and generally to provide an efficient, reliable and comparatively inexpensive wire cloth rollingy screen adapted to prevent nies and mosquitoes from entering the windows of an apartment and capable of excluding sparks and cinders when the screen is applied to the windows of a railway car.

My invention consists in the peculiarities of construction and novel combinations of devices in a rolling wire cloth window screen as hereinafter more particularly described and claimed. v

In the annexed drawings illustrating the invention-Figure lis a perspective of my improved wire cloth screen applied to a Window and unrolled or extended for use. Fig. 2 is a view of one of the fastenings or locks for securing the lower end of the unrolled screen to the window sill. Fig. 3 represents the spring tension bearings for the spring roller tol which the upper end of the screen is secured. Fig. lis aview of one of the automatic clamping guide strips for holding the ksideedges of the extended screenin close contact with the beads of the window frame. Fig. 5 is a view of the top rail and its selfadjusting strip or section for closing the space. above the rolled or unrolled screen. Fig. 6 is a View of one of the rabbeted ends of the stick attached to the lower edge of the 'wire cloth screen.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l designates the window frame or casing and 2 the beads at the inner 'sides thereof.

My improved window screen consists of a piece of Wire cloth 3 sufliciently large to closely cover the window opening, or space inclosed by the frame or casing, and to have its Side edges rest against the inner faces of the beads 2 when the screen is unrolled or extended downward to the window sill. I prefer to employ a woven screen cloth composed of line copper wire and containing, say, from eleven to twenty-two strands to the square inch. The upper end of the flexi- -ble Wire cloth 3 is firmly secured, in any suitable manner, to a spring roller 4, which may be of the well known Hartshorn type.

To the lower end of the wire cloth screen is secured transversely a suitably heavy stick 5 which may have its rear face rabbeted to receive the edge of the wire cloth that may bey covered by a wood or metal strip 6 to prevent fraying. The lower edge of the stick 5 is provided with a couple of downward ,projecting beaded pins 7 adapted to be engaged in slotted lock plates 8 secured tothe Window sill. Each of these lock plates S is provided with a slot 9 having a width corresponding with the thickness or diameter of the piu 7 and communicating atits forward end with a circular enlargement l0 of sufiiciently large diameter to permit the passage of the head of the pin. On the under side of the lock plate 8, at-the sides of the narrow portion of the slot 9, are inclined projections ll on which the head of the pin will ride, thereby drawing the screen taut after the pins7 have been inserted through the enlarged openings 10 and then pushed backward in the `slotstlso that the heads of the pins will engage said inclined projections. The plates 8 are provided with openings l2 for the passage of screws by which they may be fastened in place; and the sill may be mortised or counter-sunk in line IOO with the slots 9 so as to receive the inclined projections 11 and afford room for the heads of the pins 7, when the screen is drawn down and secured in position tor use.

For the purpose of securing a proper tension of the woven wire screen so that it will remain taut and closely cover the window space without liability to wrinkling or sagging, the spring roller 4 should be supported in yielding' or self adjusting tension bearings. The upper portion of the window frame or casing is mortised on each side for reception of a metal box or bracket 13 having a vertically slotted giiideway 14 which receives the square head 15 ot' a vertically movable bolt or pin 16 supported by a spiral spring 17 arranged within the box or casing. In the head 15 of the spring supported bolt or pin 16 at one side of the window casing is a cii'cular cavity or recess 1S communicating with a slot 20 in the box or bracket and serving as a bearing for the cylindrical or rotary journal at one end of the springroller,while the head of the bolt or pin at the other side of the window casing has a rectangular recess 19, to engage-- with the fixed rectangular stein at the other end of the spring roller. It will be seen that the spring supported heads 15 of the veitically movable pins 16 thus serve as yielding bearings for the spring roller 4 and thereby exert a tension on the iinrolled and extended screen that will hold it smoothly and taut when fastened down to the window sill.

To the vertical inner sides of the window casing adjacent to the side beads 2 are attached automatic clamping guide strips or sticks 2l that may be composed of metal or sufficiently heavy pieces of wood and which act by gravity, in a downward and outward dif rection toward the beads 2 and in front of the side edges of the screen 3, in such a manner as to press or clamp the side edges of the extended screen against and in close contact with the beads 2 so as to obviate any wrinkling or sagging of the screen edges and prevent the screen from being blown inwardwhen the window is opened for ventilation. In order to enable the vertical guide strips or sticks 21 to have this clamping action each strip or stick is provided near its upper and lower ends with inclined slots 22 by which the strips are hung on supporting guide pins 23 inserted inthe opposite sides of the window casing. These vertical strips or sticks 21 also serve as guides for the ends of the transversely arranged sticks 5 at the lower end of the screen, while the screen is being raised or lowered, each end of the screen stick 5 being provided on its front or inner face with a rabbet 24: to be engaged between the vertical guide sticks 21 and the beads 2 of the window casing, thereby causing the screen to ascend ordescend evenly, when operated.

At the top of the window casing, above the spring roller 4, is supported a top rail, molding or cornice 25 the under side of which is provided with a deep longitudinal groove, re-

cess, or mortise 26 in which a vertically movable rail section 27 is inserted with its lower edge projecting below the main portion of the rail 25 and normally resting on the portion of the wire cloth screen that is rolled or wound on the spring roller. As the Iiexible screen is rolled or unrolled, or drawn upward' or downward, the vertically movable rail section 27 will constantly bear upon the rolled or partially rolled portion of the screen and autoinatically follow its increasing or decreasing diameter, as the case may be, in such a manner as to completely close, at all times, any space that might otherwise be let't above the spring roller by the unrolling of the screen. It will, therefore, be seen that by means of this self-adjusting top rail no opening or variable space is aiorded above t-he spring roller Il and screen 3 for the entrance of insects into the apartment. It will also be observed that as the screen, when drawn down, is securely and closelyfastened at the bottom and both sides and held taut by the spring tension bearings in which the spring roller is mounted,it will provide a very eiective and convenient window guard for excluding insects when the window sash israised or opened.

While I have described myinvention with reference more particularly to the windows of apartments in dwelling and other buildings it is obvious that it may be applied equally as well and with great advantage to the windows of railway cars, for the purpose of excluding sparks and cinders.

It may sometimes be desired to sustain the guide-strips or sticks 2l, out of normal position, or away from the wire cloth screen,and to accomplish this the lower ends of the slots 22 may be extended upward, as at 22, to form shoulders, so that by moving the guide-strips or sticks upward and outward, the pins 23, are caused to engage the said shoulders and thus sustain the strips or sticks away from thescreen. y

What 1 claim as my invention isy 1. In a window screen, the combination with a spring roller and a iiexible wire cloth screen having its upper end secured to said roller and provided at its lower end with a transverse stick, of headed pins inserted in the lower edge of said stick, and lock plates secured to the window sill and adapted to be engaged by said pins, each lock plate being provided with a slot having an enlargement at one end to permit the passage of the head of one of said pins, and the under side of the plate being provided on opposite sides of the slot with inclined projections on which the heads of the pins ride to hold the screen taut when drawn down and fastened, substantially as described.

2. In a window screen, the combination with a spring roller having a flexible wire cloth screen attached thereto, and provided with a stick having headed pins, tension bearings consisting of boxes or brackets having vertically slotted guide ways, and vertically yield- IOO IIO

ing spring-pressed supports arranged in the boxes or brackets for' supporting the spring roller, and lock plates secured to the Window sill and adapted to be engaged by the headed pins on the stick of the screen, whereby the latter is held taut when its stick is held down, substantially as described.

3. In a Window screen, the combination with a wire cloth screen attached to a spring roller and adapted to extend entirely across the Window opening when drawn down and secured to the window sill, of automatic clamp# ing guide strips attached in avertical position to the sides of the window casing-adjacent to the beads thereof and having slots which incline downwardly toward the screen, and stationary pins extendingr through saidv slots and secured to the Window frame so thatv of a self adjusting top rail supported above the screen roller and comprising a stationary guide section, and a vertically sliding section in which the screen roller is supported,aselt adjusting top rail adapted to close -the variable space above said roller at the top of the Window frame, and automatic clamping guide strips for pressing the side edges of the eX- tended screen against the windenr beads, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Wit- WILLIAM H. FELTHOUSEN. Witnesses:

GEO. S. KIEFFER,

GEO. K. CRAIG.

HGSSGS. 

